


catch & release

by isthepartyover



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, cant stop wont stop writing introspective twins feels, i love this bit so so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 07:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isthepartyover/pseuds/isthepartyover
Summary: "...hovering where it once stood is Lup, phantasmal and resplendent"Taako watches as Angus looks down and sees the Umbra Staff at his feet.





	catch & release

The rhino charges at him, hitting Taako so hard that he goes flying, the Umbra Staff falling out of his hand and clattering away.

He sees it land near Angus, sees the boy detective stand up, battered and woozy but looking more or less alright, sees him pull out his wand and try and cast a spell, looking dismayed to find that the dinky little thing had snapped in half.

And then Taako watches as Angus looks down and sees the Umbra Staff at his feet.

His apprentice picks it up, looking reverant and nervous, and then looks over to Taako.

“Is this okay, sir?” he calls, and Taako almost laughs.

“Fuck, fine, go for it!”

Angus levels the staff at the rhino, and Taako rolls out of the way just in time as a giant, bright, red-hot fireball shoots out at the creature, bright and blinding like a sun.

Taako’s breath catches in his throat.

_There’s no way that kid knows how to cast that,_ he thinks.

And then he remembers the fireball from Goldcliff, the way the Staff had acted on its own twice, once to sear three letters into the cafetieria wall (L U P, _god, how could he have forgotten?_ ), the other to try and attack Kravitz as he talked about a nearby lich…

And Taako grins.

Angus looks over at him, shaking and terrified, saying, “Sir, I-that wasn’t me! I didn’t-I didn’t cast that, sir! I-I’m not powerful enough to cast that!”

Taako feels a sort of quiet calm as he stands up, looking at the Umbra Staff. “I know. I know.”

“No, you don’t-you don’t understand, I’m-that wasn’t me that just cast that spell!” Angus babbles, throwing the staff back to Taako, his expression fearful as he eyed it.

Taako catches it with ease, almost as if it was summoned to his hand, and he studies it once more, still smiling.

He knows what he needs to do now, and can’t believe he hadn’t done it sooner.

In one fluid motion, Taako lifts his knee and snaps his sister’s creation over it.

Instantly, it explodes in his hands, sending Taako flying backward and back to where he had fallen just moments ago.

And then he’s hit with a vision.

Lup, lying on a grassy hill, watching the clouds above with that same flat, dead expression she had worn the last time he’d seen her all those years ago.

Taako watches her end and imprisonment in her creation with his heart in his throat, unable to breathe as he watches all she’d done for him, all she’d been through all this time, feels the strength of her emotions.

When it ends, he knows he’s in tears as vibrant red smoke starts to pour out of the staff and encircle the tendril in the center of the room, bright, vibrant fireworks going off as the tendril explodes.

Taako pushes himself to his feet as the light fades, taking the Hunger with it back into the sky, laughing with tears still pouring down his cheeks as he sees his sister, strong and beautiful and undead and still on fire.

She turns to him, and he can practically hear her grin as she says, “You’re dating the _Grim Reaper_?”

And the world feels right again.

**Author's Note:**

> please come chat w me on tumblr im always down to cry about taz


End file.
